Call for tougher anti-vilification penalties as hate flyers target Perth LGBTQIA+ community
A letter left in mailboxes in Dianella in December 2025. (ABC News)
In short:
Police are investigating the distribution of flyers across various Perth suburbs targeting members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The flyers include photos and names of individuals, alongside sometimes explicit text accusing them of crimes such as paedophilia.
Gregory Helleren was the target of one of the flyers, and said he reported the matter to police and heard nothing until they attended his home asking him to deny the allegations in the flyer.
Police are investigating a spate of flyers dropped in mailboxes across Perth targeting members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The flyers include photos and names of individuals, alongside sometimes explicit text accusing them of crimes such as paedophilia.
They do not include any detail about the author and the people delivering them have not been identified.
Another example of the letters dropped in mailboxes in Perth. (Supplied: Alison Xamon)
Pride WA board member Gregory Helleren said his image had been used in one of the flyers along with accusations pride groups were funding child abuse.
"I'm a pretty resilient guy, but it has been very disturbing," he told ABC Radio Perth.
Gregory Helleren is the co-chair of the City of Perth’s LGBTIQA+ Advisory Group and a board member at Pride WA. (ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)
"My brother actually alerted me to the flyer when he received one in his business mailbox in Highgate at the end of January."
Mr Helleren said he had reported the flyer to police in February but claimed he heard nothing until uniformed police attended his home asking him to deny the allegations in the flyer.
An anonymous flyer circulated with Gregory Helleren's image attached, accusing him of false crimes. (Supplied: Greg Helleren)
"They were unaware of the reports made by me or others ... and they just wanted me to basically deny the allegations," he said.
Mr Helleren said the City of Perth's LGBTQIA+ Advisory Group, which he is a member of, would ask the Lord Mayor to contact the WA Attorney General advocating for tougher anti-vilification protections.
The ABC has de-identified photos before publishing them, and republished Mr Helleren's image with his permission.
Potentially criminal activity
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said anyone making or distributing the flyers could face criminal charges, as well as civil lawsuits.
"It very much depends on what the message is, and the words used, depending on how it's then interpreted," he told ABC Radio Perth.
Another example of the letters dropped in mailboxes in Perth. (Supplied)
"The best bet is to report it first, and there may also be civil remedies available to you, around defamation and other issues that you can take as well.
"They're all individual messages and obviously I can't speak to the truth of them without a proper investigation. So I think the first thing is report it to police."
Another example of the letters dropped in mailboxes in Perth. (Supplied)
Editor of LGBTQIA+ publication OUTinPerth Graeme Watson said he had spoken with another person who was the target of a flyer.
He said he was shocked at the targeted, homophobic content.
Graeme Watson described the flyers as a "wake-up call". (ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)
"The first person we spoke to back in January, said that he had received a flyer in his own letterbox that accused him of a whole bunch of ridiculous, outrageous things," he said.
"We think we're making advances as a society and then something like this happens, it just sort of is a bit of a wake-up call that maybe we haven't travelled as far as we thought we had."
For Mr Helleren, it was a reminder that society still had some way to go, and revealed he was the victim of a "gay bashing" 40 years ago.
The flyers alleged that pride groups were funding child abuse. (ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)
"The same night that the decriminalisation of homosexuality was passed, on the very night ... I was gay bashed," he said.
"A group of guys who called me all sorts of names, beat me to the ground, trapped my hand in the door of my car, took my car keys and threw them away."